Superhero novel?

I’m still in the middle of my Zombie Ocean series, with potentially 4 books left to go in the arc I’ve planned so far, but I’m thinking what I’ll do next, possibly after book 3, and I’m thinking- SUPERHERO.

Then I draw a bit of a blank. I feel like I want to write this, though I haven’t got a clear idea yet. To get ideas, I surf Amazon bestseller lists, make lists of what I like about the genre and my favorite books/movies, list up cool plot ideas/characters.

What I’ve got so far is simple.

I want to write something like Kickass. Kickass in turn is like Batman, but poor and a bit weak. The key is, neither of them has actual superpowers. This interests me most. They are regular people who decide to become vigilantes, with a public persona. There are fascinating character choices and impacts down this path.

It is immensely isolating. It’s clear to me I gravitate towards characters making choices in isolation. Real shit happens, I guess, from those kinds of moments.

Then I think, if you strip the pageantry back from the superhero- ie no cape and mask, then you end up with Jack Reacher and similar characters. A-team stuff. I want to write a Jack Reacher-like series too. So, hmm…

I consider actual superheroes like Marvel. This may theoretically interest me, though not totally straight. I like the idea of a society packed full of superheroes, and then something extra. Superheroes getting murdered? That’s the opening plot of Watchmen, I know. The main character is the only person without super powers? Yeah. I’m not interested though in an X-men kind of world, just doesn’t intrigue me. Perhaps it is too thoroughly done already, in X-men, Heroes, etc…

I’ll keep my thinking cap on. In the mean time, I’ll be starting work on Zombie Ocean 3, tentatively titled THE L_ST. That middle vowel is not set yet….

Probably it will be an ‘i’.

AND- The Lost soft-launches tomorrow! I’ll send out emails to beta-readers requesting reviews on Amazon. Hopefully the snowball of sales will start rolling all by itself.

Other news

Today I did some great teaching. The students have been writing very vague argumentative essays. No detail, repeating the title multiple time via paraphrase, just moving stuff around. We drilled down into it, using examples I provided. Really workshop-like, exactly how I want to be teaching.

THEN- me, other teachers, SY, and about 40 students went to Regent’s Park in central London to watch an open-air production of 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. In the rain!

Do you know the story of this play? I read the outline on Wikipedia. SPOILERS. A guy goes to town and judges the local ladies in a cattle-call, picks one, and marries her. How sweet. He takes her home where she cooks and cleans for him and his 6 brothers. His 6 brothers want wives, so they come to town, make a play for 6 more ladies but they’ve got suitors already, so they have a scrap, burn down a barn, win, get exiled from town, and in return kidnap the 6 ladies.

Yeah, that is how it done…? They lock these 6 women in a barn, where they get Stockholm Syndrome and come to love the brothers, everyone gets married, hooray!

The first 15 minutes were good, sprightly, tongue-in-cheek fun. Then the rain kicked up a notch. The play was halted. 15 minutes later, it was canceled 🙁 We didn’t even get to the kidnapping…

Well well, SY and I will go back at a later time. Keep your ticket stubs!!